11 comments:

Brian V
said...

There are times in this life when one has to say – as much as one dislikes to – that perhaps it may be wise to not put my life on the line and perhaps others to make a statement of road use.Without a doubt the lady poo driver should have stayed back, but she did not and you were in the middle of the road. She certainly will not be reading this.Think about this, if she did not pull over and went head on into the oncoming car, not only are two drivers / passengers probably injured, but you yourself are lying in a pool of blood.I know Haughton Road Bridge, it is a death trap for cyclists, and as much as you dislike it, push or ride the path if its emty of pedestrains on the R/H side going north until the council build the bridge.Non of us wish to read in the press “Cyclist killed” even if it wakes the council up and neither do I wish to hear motorists shouting “bloody cyclists”.You obviously use the cycle path going down into the town after the bridge, so use it going up.May I suggest that a forum is set up for this type of posting where all can shout and scream, or you write in to “Hear All Sides” in the Echo.

When I go to work, there are too many students walking on the pavement to be able to cheekily ride over the bridge on that, or even to push the bike across, so the road is the only choice.

I ride along Haughton Road from Wickes to the throughabout, where I go onto the bike path over Barton Street and up to the Toucan crossing outside Darlington College.

I used to then cross the road and ride up to the end of the path on the bridge, before waiting for a gap in the traffic to ride over the bridge, and rejoin the bike path on the other side.

What I've found is, if I half cross Haughton Road and then slip in behind the traffic turning left out of Vicarage Road, I can get over the bridge before the traffic on Haughton Road gets a green light and catches up with me.

Today, there were more vehicles than normal turning out of Vicarage Road, so I didn't get to the top in time and the cars caught up with me.

Tomorrow, I'll be even further into the road and I'll be signalling that cars shouldn't try to pass me.

There really is no alternative Mike to get to the town centre from Haughton to avoid this dam bridge unless you are prepared to go all the way up McMullen road to follow the recommended cycle path into the town centre. The same can be said of Harrowgate Hill with the narrow bridge past Morrisons.Let’s hope the council do get the bridge built soon to the benefit of all including the students at the new college.I just look forward to when the Skerne route is completed as then my good lady will cycle with me to the library each Saturday instead of using the bus.

Wev'e a very long way to go before we can look foward to cycle path gritters Anonymous!Besides, I hate salt, makes a mess of my bike. I found that most motorists have no idea on how to drive in snow and ice & as gritting is the norm, some consider driving at the same speed is OK. Then they hit non gritted road and chaos ensues.I drive (occasionaly)a small 4 x 4 and the amount of others using this type of vehicle who don't even know how to place it in 4 wheeled drive is amazing!There, I've had my moan for the day. I'd better do some work!

Welcome

BikeDarlington is an open, online forum for members and supporters of Darlovelo. You can comment on posts directly, or use the form below to subscribe by email, or follow us using our Google Connect button.

Join Us!

Membership of Darlovelo costs just £5 a year. You can join immediately using paypal by going to the darlovelo website here.